What’s on TV Wednesday: ‘The BFG’ and ‘Star’

By JOSHUA BARONE

March 15, 2017

“The BFG,” Steven Spielberg’s big-screen adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s novel, arrives on Netflix. And the musical drama “Star” wraps up its first season on Fox.

What’s Streaming

Mark Rylance as the Big Friendly Giant in “The BFG.”

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

THE BFG (2016) on Netflix. Steven Spielberg brought Roald Dahl’s endearing giant to the big screen with the acting chops of Mark Rylance and sophisticated special effects. The results are often exquisite, but the film “is so committed to inducing a state of breathless wonder that it uses up its own oxygen supply,” A. O. Scott wrote in The New York Times. “What’s missing, above all, is the wild, palpable sense of excitement that has galvanized so many of Mr. Spielberg’s other juvenile adventures, from ‘E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ to ‘The Adventures of Tintin,’” Mr. Scott added. “His approach to the material is dutiful and appreciative, and his devotion to his own craft is impeccable. He lays out an imaginary world in meticulous detail but never grants it full life. There are delights on display, but not many surprises.”

PATRIOTS DAY (2016) on iTunes. Peter Berg, who has directed other films inspired by recent history — “Lone Survivor” (2013) and “Deepwater Horizon” (2016) — took on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings for his latest movie, which, like those other two, stars Mark Wahlberg. “Movies that depict heinous real-life criminal acts and attempt to grapple with their human toll are provocative undertakings, particularly when they’re made so soon after the actual events,” Glenn Kenny wrote in The Times. “As it happens, ‘Patriots Day’ works so well on a dramatic level that my qualms were silenced almost entirely from the start.”

Lisa Kudrow, left, and Mira Sorvino in “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.”

Mark Fellman / Touchstone Pictures

ROMY AND MICHELE’S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION (1997) on Hulu. This gem of ’90s cinema stars Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow as Romy and Michele, roommates and best friends in Los Angeles who head home for their 10-year reunion — but not before seeking jobs and boyfriends to impress their classmates. When that fails, they fake it as “businesswomen” (without deciding what kind of business they’re in). “Ms. Kudrow and Ms. Sorvino make a fine team, elevating bubble-headedness to new levels of comic ingenuity,” Janet Maslin wrote in The Times. “Though the film frays their friendship by having them argue about which one is the bigger success, ‘cuteness-wise,’ that’s easy to settle. They both win.”

What’s on TV

STAR9 p.m. on Fox. This musical series from Lee Daniels — the mastermind of “Empire” — and Tom Donaghy ends its first season. Star deals with the aftermath of Hunter’s actions, while Derek and Alex have trouble deciding about their future.

WORKAHOLICS10 p.m. on Comedy Central. After seven seasons, this sitcom ends. In the series finale, the guys — Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine and Anders Holm — become party gods after an energy drink company pays them to give ragers.